Daughter
by FredandGeorgefreak
Summary: Light has never understood L. He was famous for his awful social skills and his inability to give any form of human contact. But when an unexpected guest shows up at Headquarters, how will L react? Light has never seen him like this before. Set during the time when Light lost his memories.


_**I do not own Death Note. Set during the time when Light lost his memories.**_

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Light Yagami liked to think he knew quite a bit. He was always at the top of his class, and he received a perfect score on his university entrance exams. And though he was fairly new to the Kira investigation team, everyone seemed to be well aware of his intelligence, including world-renowned detective, L. However, for once, Light hadn't a clue what to think.

L – or Ryuzaki, as they were meant to refer to him as – was nothing like how Light expected him to be. Behind a monitor, he seemed big, tough, and cunning. But coming face-to-face with him was a completely different experience.

The detective was rather odd, choosing to crouch rather than sit and dieting on only a variety of cakes and candies. How he didn't gain weight was only one mystery that Light couldn't solve about the man. While he had commented that he burned calories using his brain, Light didn't think that was humanly possible.

Though there was no doubt that he was brilliant, all anyone could notice when in the presence of Ryuzaki was his inability to communicate well with other people. His social skills were some of the worst that Light had ever seen, and his personal opinions tended to constantly offend everyone that they were directed to.

Light could only ponder the thoughts, never announce them. He would only earn a confused stare and an answer that made little to no sense, something only Ryuzaki would comprehend.

Being handcuffed to him didn't make the situation simpler either; quite the opposite, it only muddled Light more. L enjoyed whispering to himself and being next to him at all times allowed him to overhear the conversations he would have with himself.

"But can we rule him out as a suspect?" he was currently mumbling, chewing lazily on the pad of his thumb. "Though he says he works against Kira, could he be lying? We could install certain cameras into the building to get a closer look…"

Light simply tuned him out. It was something he had gotten used to, the one-sided exchanges, and besides, it wasn't like Ryuzaki knew he could hear him. Sometimes, he wondered if he could even grasp the idea of human contact.

There was a knock on the door, abrupt and sharp. Turning towards the sound, Light observed as Watari strode into the room, gliding as if he were floating, like he always did. As he leaned down and began murmuring into Ryuzaki's ear, Light witnessed something he had never seen before; fear flashed across L's eyes, and he stood up suddenly, forcing the teenager up by default.

"Ryuzaki?" Light tried, stepping closer to the man. "What's wrong? What is it?" He could only think of the worst. Kira must've done something that had outshone all of his other crimes.

But he never responded. Instead, he faced his older companion and spoke in a voice that startled everyone else in the room. "Watari," he began a bit too seriously for Light's liking. "Lock the doors."

Sending him a disapproving, almost disappointed, glare, the man said, "Ryuzaki, I will not allow you to leave that girl all by herself."

"I said to lock the doors." The sharpness that L responded with was one that caused Light to take a step back. What could possibly be so awful, so terrifying, that it sent the world's greatest detective into a state of pure anxiety? And a girl? Light didn't think Ryuzaki knew of any girls other than Misa.

Never before had Light seen Ryuzaki fight with Watari, nor had he ever seen the elder fight back. It must be something of the utmost importance, Light thought to himself, as Watari advanced towards the dark haired male.

"You may be in charge of this case, but I will by no means let you intentionally leave that girl stranded on her own."

"I won't leave her stranded," Ryuzaki retorted. "There are plenty of floors in this building. Send her to a different one. She can go anywhere. Just not here."

Watari sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. It was true, L was uncommonly stubborn, that was very eminent to anyone who had ever been in his presence. But this didn't sound like anything to do with Kira. So then why didn't Ryuzaki just give in to Watari's wishes?

The squeak of the door being pushed open suspended the uncomfortable silence that had settled over the room. Through the small crack, an even smaller head peaked through.

"Watari?" a soft, nervous voice called. "Can I come inside yet? Did you find-" The person cut themselves off as their dark eyes scanned over the room. Their face broke into a wide grin. "Daddy!"

Without warning, a small girl raced into the room, making a beeline for a startled, unprepared Ryuzaki. She had two long, black pigtails that flapped behind her as she ran, and she giggled in excitement.

When she reached the man, she attached herself to his torso, arms twining around his slim waist. Looking up at him with the same grin she had had when she first noticed him, she squeezed him as she began to babble.

"Did you miss me? I missed you. Why haven't you been home? You said you'd be home for my birthday, but you weren't!"

She continued to talk idly, but L didn't seem to be paying much attention; he was too busy worrying his thumb between his teeth, something he only did when thinking rather seriously.

"Ryuzaki," Matsuda was the first to talk. "Who…Who is this girl? How does she know you?" He was ignored as L attempted to remove the girl from his body. She seemed to have none of it; she only held on tighter, showing the same stubbornness that Ryuzaki always did.

It was Watari that ended up answering the question that had been left hanging in the air. Placing a hand on the child's shoulder, he replied, "This is Hotaru. Ryuzaki's daughter."

It was as if a pile of bricks had fallen upon the rest of the occupants of the room. None of them had suspected something as unpredictable as a child, especially a child of someone as unrefined and reserved as Ryuzaki.

"D-Daughter?" Soichiro asked in disbelieve. "I-I would have never guessed that Ryuzaki had a child of any kind."

"It's so weird!" Matsuda commented loudly. "I never would have seen that coming!" He moved in front of the girl, smiling fondly at her. Bending down to be on the same level as she was, he greeted, "Hello, Hotaru! I'm Matsuda!"

Finally, Hotaru released L, only to look up at this new stranger who had confronted her. "Your name is confusing. Can't I call you something easier?"

"You can call me Matsu, if you want!" he offered, hoping that someone in the building would, for once, take a liking to him.

This seemed to appeal to Hotaru. "Okay! I'm Hotaru, and I'm five! Daddy always goes away for a long time, and it's always to such cool places! He's never at home though. Maybe now that I found him, we can go back home! Daddy used to live with Mommy and me in-"

"_Hotaru_." The raise in Ryuzaki's voice was something that only happened once in a blue moon and only when it was completely necessary. The girl stopped herself, looking down at her shoes. "_What _have I told you about giving out personal information?"

"To not do it?" the small girl tried, voice shaking slightly. Light knew L couldn't handle human emotions well but acting like this towards a child? He could at least show a little bit of compassion.

"Exactly." Taking a deep breath, he began to pace, Light being pulled along with him. None of the other men had ever seen Ryuzaki so troubled or distraught; the detective seemed to always have an answer, and seeing as he didn't have one this time was a shock to everyone.

Hotaru watched her father curiously, head cocked to the side. It was the first time that she had ever seen him this way. Was it her fault that he was so angry? She hadn't meant to upset him! Tears welled in her eyes, spilling over onto her cheeks. Hiccupping sadly, she let out a loud cry before latching onto Ryuzaki's leg.

"I'm sorry, Daddy! Don't be mad at me!" she sobbed, hiding her bright red face in his pant leg. "I didn't mean to make you mad!"

Receiving distressed looks from all of the men, Ryuzaki sighed, letting his large hand fall upon his daughter's head.

"I don't understand," he said, directed towards Watari. "I thought Miho was looking after her. How did she get to Japan from England by herself?"

Rummaging through his bag, Watari pulled out a folded up piece of notebook paper. "I found this in her coat pocket. It's addressed to you, Ryuzaki."

Taking the paper from him, L scanned over it as if he were investigating data, face serious and focused. Hotaru continued clutching his leg, her loud sobs turning into quiet sniffles.

"This is completely unfair," Aizawa grumbled, arms crossed. "Some of us don't even get to see our kids anymore, and his just happens to show up. And it's okay?" Scoffing, he shook his head, glaring daggers at the girl, even though he knew it wasn't technically her fault. Who could blame a five-year-old for something that they couldn't control? Still, he had his own young ones at home, and he rarely got to spend time with them. The fact that Ryuzaki got to follow only the rules he favored was ludicrous. "How come she gets to see you? Why don't you send her away like you've made us do with our own families? Why don't you-"

"_Enough_," Ryuzaki said sternly, almost sounding as if he were growling. Placing the note on the table, he directed, "Watari, take Hotaru to my room. And please. Don't allow her to get out."

"Of course," Watari obeyed, grabbing the young girl's hand. "Come, Hotaru. Let's leave your father to his work, yes?"

Hesitantly, as if she were pondering the offer, she nodded, curling her smaller fingers around Watari's hand. "Okay," she agreed. As she was being lead from the room, she craned her neck over her shoulder and waved. "Bye, Daddy! I'll see you later!"

Ryuzaki never replied; instead, he climbed back into his chair, taking his normal crouching position. Glancing back towards his companions, he said, "Well? Are you just going to stand there? Or are you going to help me analyze this evidence?"

The rest of the team shared their own individual looks between each other, but Light was the only one to speak up. "Ryuzaki? The note…what did it say exactly?"

Shrugging, L shuffled through evidence papers. "Nothing much. Hotaru's mother decided she couldn't take care of a child anymore, so she contacted Watari and sent her here. She thought it would be better for both of us if Hotaru came to live with me. Though, I am almost ninety-five percent sure that Miho simply did not want her anymore. She sent her on a plane earlier this morning, and Watari must've gone to the airport to pick her up."

Silence fell over them again. How one could abandon their child was absurd to them. Aizawa, having opposed the idea of the girl staying in the building earlier, gritted his teeth in frustration. How could a mother do that to her child?

Soichiro stood behind Ryuzaki's chair, bowing his head. "What will you do with her in the building? Will you allow her near the Kira investigation?"

"While I do not like the idea of Hotaru being anywhere near a case such as this one, I do not have a say in the matter," L answered, continuing to forge through a stack of papers. "Though she will not be permitted in this room, I will allow her to explore elsewhere. I will have Watari watch for her at all times. Much like her mother, she's too curious for her own good. However," Swiveling around in his chair, he gave the other men serious looks, "none of you are to involve her in the case. If she tries to talk to you about your work, disregard her and leave. No matter how much she pleads, do not converse with her about it. It will be safer for her. Light is the only one allowed near her when I speak with her alone, as he does not have a choice." He held up his wrist, the one with the handcuff connected to Light's own arm. "But he will say nothing of the case. She is not to know about Kira. She is too young to understand. Have I made myself clear?" The men nodded.

Ryuzaki caring for someone? Light didn't believe that the detective had that kind of ability. He supposed a daughter was much different than an acquaintance or even a friend but still.

"Also," Ryuzaki added as he turned back to his computer, "no one is to know that she is here. Her presence is to be spoken of to no one. Understood?"

"Of course," Soichiro replied, Matsuda and Aizawa nodding in agreement behind him.

"Good." Grabbing a cookie off of a tray, Ryuzaki began to once again scroll through files. "Now, let's continue with the case, shall we?"

That night, having not moved all day, Light yawned, stretching his arms above his head. It had been established that the Kira case would take countless hours of endless research and observation, but none of them had gotten any sleep in the past three nights. The only one that seemed to not be weakening was Ryuzaki; the insomniac continued clicking through files and studying the monitors from time to time as if nothing could falter him.

"Ryuzaki," Watari's voice announced from the speaker lying on the top of the desk. "It is almost eleven o'clock."

"I am aware," L responded monotone. Without even a glimpse away from the computer screen, Ryuzaki did not say anymore, waiting for Watari to make any point he might have had.

Sure enough, the older man spoke up again, heaving out a sigh. "Hotaru has been refusing to go to bed for the past three hours. She was meant to be sleeping since eight o'clock."

Light could hear the shrug and almost a hint of annoyance in Ryuzaki's voice. "Give her warm milk. Or read her a story. She'll sleep eventually."

"I have tried everything," Watari countered back, sounding restless. "Nothing has worked. She is a five-year-old girl, Ryuzaki." His voice turned much more serious, almost attempting to make L feel guilty. "All she wants is her father to wish her good night."

Trying to compromise with him, Ryuzaki tried, "Then tell her I say good night."

"No. You have to do it yourself. You read the note, and you know just as well as I do that, regardless if she is your daughter or not, she cannot understand the situation she is in. She doesn't know where her mother is or that she will not see her again. Now, step away from the computer for ten minutes and put her to bed."

"Oh, c'mon, Ryuzaki!" Matsuda urged. "Just go tuck her in!" For once, Soichiro did not reprimand him; on the contrary, he gave him a nod of approval.

Letting out a low groan, L rose from his chair. "Alright. But ten minutes and ten minutes only. If she is not asleep by that time, you will deal with her."

"Of course."

Tugging on the chain, Ryuzaki led the teen out of the room and down two flights of stairs. No words were shared between the two. What was Light to say? Ryuzaki wasn't the easiest person in the world to talk to.

However, soon enough they had reached the only room with a propped open door. Watari stood waiting for them, and he approached the duo.

"She has been restless," he told his superior. "I finally settled her down a bit, but she was crying for quite some time." He turned to Light and explained, "She is too young to understand her father's business. Everything is very new to her." Head moving to face L again, he said with a warning tone, "Please remember that this is not just one of your successors; this is also your daughter. Please treat her as such." And with that, he was gone.

"Light," Ryuzaki signaled, gaining the boy's attention. "I am going to unchain us for this moment and this moment only. I want you to stand outside of this door and not move. Though, even if you attempt to move, we can still watch you on surveillance cameras."

Nodding skeptically, Light agreed to the terms. Removing a small key from his pocket, Ryuzaki unlocked the small shackle connected to his wrist. Giving Light one last suggestive look, Ryuzaki entered his daughter's room, leaving the slightest crack between the door and the frame, just so he could keep on eye on his suspect.

Peering into the room, Light studied the scene with curious eyes. This was an opportunity that he could not possibly pass up, and he was going to watch every bit of it.

It was not as if Ryuzaki had not put his child to sleep before, he had. It wasn't a natural thing for him to do though; he was not at the house enough to bid her a good night.

As he approached the bed, he inspected his daughter, trying to look at her, for once, differently than he did with investigation evidence. He saw that she was far too small for such a large bed and that her hair lay about her shoulders, messy and tangled. Her dark black eyes, that were so much like his own, were staring right back at him, though neither of them spoke. What were you supposed to say to a person that you hadn't seen in over a year?

But he would never get back to his work if he just watched her. And she wouldn't get to sleep either.

Clearing his throat, he got a bit closer, speculating her. "It's late," he finally said. "You should be sleeping."

"Can't," Hotaru responded. "I'm not tired."

"Little girls need sleep," Ryuzaki tried. "Or else they won't grow up to be intelligent."

"You don't sleep," she pointed out, lolling her head to the side to get a better look at her father. She wasn't lying; being a detective didn't give him much free time, even to do necessary things, such as sleeping. But he was used to it, having practiced it for years by now. Hotaru was only five; she needed to rest to develop correctly.

But, like he had said, she was only a little girl; he couldn't expect her to understand concepts such as that, even if she had acquired his DNA.

Kneeling down next to the side of the bed, he rested his arms on the sheets, lying his chin on them. "Alright," he said. "Then we'll just need to figure out a way to get you to sleep." What usually put five-year-old girls to sleep? Singing was completely out of the question, but he also couldn't simply force her to sleep either.

But then he remembered what had used to put Hotaru to sleep when she was younger. For a while, when Miho was too busy or too stressed, she would send Hotaru to Wammy's House. They all knew who she was and tried to get on her good side, to see if they could widen their chances of becoming the next L.

However, he knew that his top three students took a bit of a liking to her, more than they would ever admit. Even sensitive, quiet Near had shown the littlest bit of benevolence to her. Maybe discussing something that Hotaru got excited about would tire her out enough for her to fall asleep.

"How is Wammy's?" he asked, looking towards his daughter. "Are my students behaving themselves?"

Never in any of the times he had spent with his daughter had Ryuzaki heard her talk so much. She went on and on about how Near had allowed her to assist him in completing a five hundred piece puzzle and that Matt, or Mattie, as she called him, had been teaching her how to play video games the right way.

"And Mellie kept fighting with Near, but I don't think Near cared all that much. He didn't say anything." Ryuzaki rolled his eyes in his mind; that sounded exactly like both Near and Mello.

"As long as they're working," L commented quietly. Hotaru giggled at her father's words, nodding quickly.

"They're always working, just like you!" she exclaimed with a smile. Ryuzaki couldn't help but return the gesture. His daughter, despite never having said it aloud, was incredibly cute.

"I'm glad to hear that," he said, hoping that she would've fallen asleep by that point. However, her eyes were still wide open and shining with happiness. "You know, you will have to go to sleep eventually."

"But I'm really not tired," Hotaru whined. "I try to close my eyes, but they don't wanna stay closed!" Biting her lip, the girl stared up at the ceiling. "Daddy? Will you do the special thing? Maybe then I can sleep."

"Special thing?" he wondered questioningly, erecting his head to the side. "What special thing?" He couldn't think of anything special he shared with his daughter, which wasn't indubitably a good thing. Fathers were meant to create moments with their children, were they not? Ryuzaki couldn't think of anything of the sort that he had with Hotaru.

"You know," she said, looking back towards him. "The thing you do before you go on long trips, and I'm still sleeping. Sometimes, I wake up, but I pretend I'm not so that you'll still do the special thing."

It suddenly came to him, what she was referring to. Whenever he would leave for trips such as this one to Japan, he would quietly sneak into Hotaru's room and gently stroke her hair back. Only when he was sure that he had caressed her long enough would he press a soft kiss to her forehead and exit the room. While it wasn't the most affectionate thing in the world, it was the most that Ryuzaki could muster. He had never been an emotional person, but his daughter was a different case than everyone else.

But did she really know about it? She was always sound asleep when he would enter her room. She was incredibly sneaky; perhaps his DNA was affecting her after all.

"Alright," he agreed. "But then you have to go to sleep. It's almost midnight. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Daddy," she accepted the offer, snuggling under the covers as she awaited for the special thing that only she and her father shared.

Slowly, Ryuzaki began to push her hair off of her face, hand warm against the top of her head. His fingers stroked down her long, black strands, lulling her closer and closer to sleep.

A few minutes went by before Hotaru's breathing became even, and her eyes stayed shut. Maybe this "special thing" that she was so set on was the secret to putting her to sleep.

Standing up, he leaned back down to brush a feather light kiss to her pale skin. Only then did he realize how much she resembled him. Only cuter, he told himself.

Peaking in through the crack in the door, Light watched the spectacle. It was a side of Ryuzaki he had never witnessed before. Kind and caring, all things good fathers should be. But Ryuzaki didn't seem like the type to take full responsibility of a child, especially with all the sentiment that came with it.

He backed away from the door, leaning against the wall as the detective made his way from the room. Quietly, he shut the door, the lock only making the slightest of a click.

"Well, that's been taken care of," he reported, pulling the chain from where it was still connected to Light's wrist. Snapping the handcuff back onto his own wrist, he pulled him forward, back to the observation room. "Let's get back to the case."

Light raised an eyebrow, following him. Apparently, Ryuzaki was much different than he thought. He was isolated and incompetent to everything. Everything, it seemed, except for his daughter. Light didn't believe he would ever know what to think about Ryuzaki. For now, he figured he would just let it go.

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**A/N: I don't know why I like the idea of L having a daughter, but it's just amusing to me. I hoped you guys liked it!**

**Review?**


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